Southern California -- this just in

Sold! Kirk Gibson's home run bat gets $575,912 at auction

November 14, 2010 | 9:19
am

PIECE OF HISTORY SOLD TO HIGHEST BIDDER: The bat Kirk Gibson used to hit his legendary home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series was sold for $575,912 at an auction that wrapped up early Sunday, according to KTLA News. Gibson's jersey from the same game went for $303,277. The items were among the offerings at SCP Auctions' October-November auction. "We are again impressed with the overall interest in sports memorabilia," said David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions. "From the iconic Wagner card to Babe Ruth's personal humidor and items from Gibson's miracle moment, we continue to see a strong demand for sports collectibles.'

THE GAY DODGER: Glenn Burke left the Dodgers in the late 1970s, but there was a little-known backstory. L.A. Observed reports: "The reason Burke was exiled, most agree now, is that the Dodgers discovered Burke was gay. He didn't talk about it in the media until a 1982 story in Inside Sports magazine called 'The Double Life of a Gay Dodger' and in a conversation with Bryant Gumble on the 'Today' show, after he was out the game and headed downhill to a life that included drugs, prison and AIDS."

NAME DROPPING, CIRCA 1979: California Watch reports on a "special list" contained in Jerry Brown's archives from his terms as governor in the 1970s. "The list of about 100 names includes famed fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, a longtime friend and recent campaign contributor; pop singer Helen Reddy and her then-husband and manager, Jeff Wald; Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard; and David Karr, a politically connected Renaissance man later named in published reports as a source for the KGB. Others had more conventional political ties to Brown, including United Farm Workers of America founder Cesar Chavez."